Room At The Table helps poor, disaster victims

Thursday

May 10, 2007 at 12:01 AMMay 10, 2007 at 10:10 AM

Room at the Table, a multi-faith, multi cultural group, will host a Simple Meal on Saturday, May 19 from 6-8 p.m. to benefit Jhamtse International at Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ, 55 Coolidge Ave., Lexington.

latest in a series of fund-raisers that have been held to help raise awareness of areas in need because of poverty or natural disasters.

Jhamtse International is headquartered in Acton and supports the work of Lobsang Phuntsok, its spiritual and educational director. Its chief fund-raising focus is on the Jhamtse Gatsal children’s community, which is located in an impoverished remote area in the northeastern Himalayas of Arunachal Pradesh India near the borders of Tibet and Bhutan. Arunachal Pradesh means “land of the dawn-lit mountains.”

Phuntsok was born in this area and was raised by his grandparents. Because they felt he would do well in a monastery, they sent him at a very young age to Sera Je, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in south India where he became a monk. There he learned first hand the value of a good education and a caring environment; and there he first envisioned establishing a school based on the principles of love, compassion, and wisdom in his homeland.

Room at the Table is an outreach of Pilgrim Church and is a multi-faith, multi-cultural community of caring individuals whose common purpose is to serve others by increasing awareness in the community about people in need locally, nationally, and globally. At each event a simple meal prepared from recipes indigenous to the specific area is served. In this case the meal will be authentic Tibetan/Indian food — similar to what the children at the Jhamtse Gatsal community eat. Everyone in the wider community is invited to gather to share this simple meal and a time of camaraderie.

There is no admission charge; a donation of the price of a restaurant meal is suggested. For further information or directions to Pilgrim Church, call the church office at 781-862-0357 or visit www.pilgrimcongregational.com.